Month: July 2008

Nothing seems more appropriate or more pressing than that India and Israel, two nations that straddle such a highly inhospitable neighbourhood, should cultivate countervailing centres of powers which genuinely and autonomously embrace a similar ethos of social tolerance and political pluralism. Just as Israel, arguably the world's most beleaguered democracy, has established a special relationship with the world’s most powerful democracy, there seem to be strong —and mutual—incentives for the establishment of a similar relationship the world’s most populous democracy.

India today, more than any other time in its history, needs a view of its role in the world quite removed from the shibboleths of the past. An intellectual renaissance in the realm of foreign policy that allows India to shed its defensive attitude in framing its interests and grand strategy is the need of the hour.

The new neo-conservative agenda, should it take hold in US foreign policy circles, will adversely impact the United States’ relationships with Russia and China. But of equal concern, it may threaten relationships with other proudly democratic states, like India, that do not necessarily share America’s reading of history.

Ms Bijapurkar emphasises the danger of being carried away by a grand vision of the stereotypical Indian consumer. Instead she advocates segmentation and profiling to understand the multiple consumer classes which exist in the country.

The July 2008 issue of Pragati features an in-depth piece on India-Israel relations. The issue also has articles on Indian and US foreign policy being at crossroads of their own, on new ways of thinking about food security and irrigation, and a review of a book on the Indian consumer.